Conquest: Wreck-It Ralph
by The-Rose-Chronicles
Summary: The Rose Clan decides to take over the world of Wreck-It Ralph so Zeta can procure an ally.
1. Chapter 1

The day started out like any other ordinary Saturday at Mr.Litwak's arcade; Mr.Litwak opened up the arcade doors and almost instantly the regulars started to trickle in, gravitating to their favorite games. The morning flew by for the gamers and the games but it seemed to move at a crawl for Mr.Litwak himself for he was expecting a delivery. By noon, the delivery truck arrived and Mr.Litwak eagerly led the deliverer inside. Business at the arcade had been fairly steady but it was becoming a challenge to attract fresh faces with so many household consoles and games floating about in the world. However, Mr.Litwak had come across what he considered the solution to his problem, an arcade version of a video game that was booming in popularity at the moment.He led the deliverer to the middle of the arcade where new games typically went and got it set up.

The game was called "The Glory of Death" and was a virtual reality fighting game based on an existing home console RPG. The point of the game was to defeat enemies as fast as you could as the game's high-score was calculated by taking into account how long the player lasted before dying and how quickly they cleared each stage. The game consisted of three stages of increasing difficulty, though most never made it past stage two. The waves of enemies were tough on their own, but the hardest part of the game was each stage's boss, each more merciless and hard to defeat than the last. The game was so hard, in fact, that within the week the game had been plugged in, no one had made it to the final boss of the game, even when they managed to make it past the second stage.

Within their secret after-hours world, the other games in the arcade were wary of the new game. Most of the time a new game being plugged in was a reason to celebrate, but, due in no small part to it's rather graphic nature, The Glory of Death seemed so much darker than what the other games were used to. As The Glory of Death was in first person view, there was no good guy to help bridge the gap between it and the other games, only the hoards of monsters and the bosses. No one, not even the other bad guys, were brave enough to try entering the game as they'd all seen or heard how dangerous it was so, for that entire first week, the arcade's occupants just went about their days, only occasionally giving an anxious thought to what would happen if a character from the game actually came out.

On the night of the game's one-week anniversary however, their anxious thoughts became all too real as the portal connecting Game Central Station to The Glory of Death lit up, a small train with only two cars attached coming down the track carrying only one avatar. The new avatar was revealed to be taller than most as she stepped gracefully out of the car she was in and stood to her full height, intimidating the small crowd of passersby who had been caught by surprise when the track had first come to life. As she suspensefully made her way towards the entrance to GCS and the exit to the game she'd just come from, grinning lightly the entire time, black bat wings flared up behind her, startling the crowd and causing a few of the more timid onlookers to flee. Playing off the deliberate, and successful, attempt to startle her audience, the woman flapped her wings a few times in a mock stretch, making her wavy black hair stir a bit before she folded them once more. The low chuckle she let out broke the collective silence that had fallen over their little area of GCS and suddenly made the soft click of the pointed heels of her boots seem rather loud.

Finally emerging from her game, the imposing avatar passed over the threshold into GCS and stopped as the normally invisible threshold flashed red and made a loud sound somewhere between a buzz and a beep. As it did, a small electrical current flashed over to the woman and from it emerged a significantly shorter blue man that was almost transparent. He was one of the resident surge protectors that kept the games in the arcade safe and he appeared to every new character that first exited their game to explain to them how things around the arcade worked. Not wasting any time once he'd appeared, the surge protector began his well-practiced dialogue.

"You're from the new game, The Glory of Death, correct?" He asked, glancing up at the winged woman and almost wishing he hadn't. The look she was giving him was almost predatory and, despite his years of practice dealing with intimidating villains, still managed to unnerve him a bit.

"Correct." She replied, her voice a low sultry purr that caused the surge protector to pause for a few seconds before he regained his composer.

Considering the lack of dialogue that had been observed coming from her game, the surge protector thought it seemed unnecessary for the woman to have such a seductive voice. "I'm a surge protector and I keep track of all traffic between games. I'm going to need to ask you a few questions before I can let you move on." He explained, getting his pen and clipboard ready.

"Alright, fire away."

"Name?"

"Empress Zeta Rose."

"And your affiliation?"

Raising an eyebrow, Zeta feigned a look of hurt. "Affiliation? You mean you can't tell that I'm a baddy just by looking at me?"

"It's just protocol, ma'am." The surge protector responded, still expecting an official for-the-record answer.

Chuckling softly, Zeta gave in. "Villain."

The surge protector looked mildly uncomfortable now. "We typically use the term "bad guy" around here instead of "villain"." He said, glancing about uncertainly. "The term "villain" tends to be more offensive to folks."

Holding back a snort, Zeta rolled her ethereal green eyes. "My bad." She replied sarcastically, placing a hand on her hip, the action drawing attention to the shiny black band she wore on her ring finger as well as her sharp, black nails.

Not convinced that Zeta cared about her faux pas but not wanting to press the issue further, the surge protector continued on. "By entering Game Central Station you hereby agree to submit to random security checks and agree to not cause trouble in any game you may enter. Understand?"

"Yes sir, officer." Zeta replied, giving a mock salute with her free hand. "I'll be a good little baddy, you have my word."

The surge protector didn't voice the snarky opinion he had on that promise, instead just saying what he was supposed to. "You may proceed." With that, he turned back into a blue electrical current and zapped away.

Finally free of the annoying security guard, Zeta swept her cold gaze over the crowd her arrival had drawn and stepped forward. Her grin returned as the crowd, with the exception of one, quickly dispersed. Zeta looked down at the one avatar who remained, a small, round, green creature holding a small stack of fliers in its round, floating hands.Sour Bill was unaffected by Zeta's presence despite barely going to the calf of her black leather boots and simply held up one of his fliers to her, returning to handing them out to other stray villains once she took it. Looking the flyer over, Zeta realized it was an invitation to Bad-Anon, the "anonymous" support group for the villains in the arcade. She laughed softly to herself at the use of the word. As though they all didn't recognize eachother. As though the heroes of the arcade didn't know they attended. Still, she had planned her grand appearance for that night in particular in order to secure an invitation to the meeting and had succeeded.

Giving her wings a few large flaps, Zeta took to the air and quickly found her way to the entrance of Pac-Man. Alighting, she noticed the train was almost full and was large considering there were only actually five inhabitants of the game. Zeta sat down in a car with Bowser and took out her cell phone. Entering her PIN quickly, she sent the same text to two of her contacts and set it to be sent to another two in an hour: a screenshot of Rafiki from The Lion King with the subtitle "it is time". She knew Jason wouldn't get the reference and Matthew would think she was being lame, but Xander and Monique would likely get a chuckle out of it, so she could deal with a mildly confused hubby and slightly annoyed son.

Normally she wouldn't leave a task as important as procuring an ally to anyone but herself, but Zeta knew Matthew could handle the task and that Monique could handle Matthew so that left herself, Jason, and Xander the unimportant but fun task of causing mayhem until her children had completed their mission. With that on her mind and a smile on her lips, Zeta tucked her phone away into her pocket dimension, ignoring the confused look she was getting from Bowser. Unfortunately for Zeta, her tight black leather pants didn't have pockets and there wasn't any room to tuck her phone between her breasts like her daughter would in such a situation so she had to settle for drawing attention to herself by sticking her phone into "thin air" as anyone around her would see it.

Once the train pulled into the port leading to Pac-Man, Zeta and the other villains got off and found their, largely individual, ways to the center of the maze-like game where the Bad-Anon meeting was always held. Zeta was among the first few to arrive along with a few of the frequent attendees as she had simply flown over the maze and they knew the quickest route by memory. She found a seat easily as the room was still fairly empty and crossed one leg over the other before propping one of her elbows up behind the chair, giving her a very casual, almost uncaring, appearance. As the rest of the bad guys filed in, Clyde welcomed everyone, pointing out the obvious that they had a few new attendees that evening. Zeta was certain anyone who had attended even once would notice that she was new, for she, in her not so humble opinion, was rather hard to miss.

Starting at one end of the circle of chairs, Clyde had each new bad guy introduce themself and do some sharing. Veteran bad guys put in their two-cents when they felt it might be helpful and Zeta simply listened. All of the stories were basically the same; the bad guys don't like being bad guys, the others understand, sympathize, and offer advise, this makes the sharing bad guy feel less lonely, warm fuzzies. Boring. Snapping out of the daze she'd momentarily fallen into as it was her turn to share, Zeta smiled and waved the hand that wasn't propped on her chair back.

"Hey, my name is Zeta, and I'm from The Glory of Death." The noticeable shift from casual to uncomfortable in the general atmosphere in the room made Zeta's smile grow. As the others replied with their customary "hi, Zeta", she could hear the uncertainty in some of their voices. "I hate to break it to you guys, but I actually enjoy being a villain." Zeta said casually, pretending not to notice the shocked expressions all around her. "Honestly, I don't get what the big deal is. I mean, as villains we're more powerful than heroes, more stylish than heroes, generally more interesting to hang out with than heroes. Honestly, who wouldn't want to be a villain?" By this point the room was speechless. Apparently she was causing a scene.

Suddenly feigning a look of surprised confusion, Zeta looked around the room. "You guys all look so surprised!" She chirped in a mock-innocent voice, gasping and putting her free hand to her mouth. "Is it 'cuz I said the 'v' word?" Zeta broke back into a grin, flashing elongated canines flanked on either side by another canine, and her voice went back to it's usual tone. "Seriously though, you guys are more awesome than you realize. I mean, haven't any of you ever thought about your power? About how easy it would be to tip the balance around here in your favor? You're all more ruthless than the heroes by design, that means you'd automatically win in a no-holds-barred fight. Why sit around in here talking when you could be out there asserting yourselves?"

Breaking the silence, Clyde suddenly spoke up. "Now, Zeta, I think I speak for everyone when I say that this arcade doesn't have any issues with the balance of power. We've been happily coexisting together since Ralph here saved the arcade." He looked around at the room only to see that a disconcerting amount of bad guys seemed hesitant to agree with him.

"Is that so?" Zeta asked, uncrossing her leg and straightening up to look at Clyde directly. "If these hard-working antagonists were really "happily coexisting" why would they need your little support group?." She questioned, standing and striding up to Clyde, calm smile never faltering.

"Well--"

Cutting Clyde off with a sharp wave of her hand, Zeta turned on her heel, putting the same hand up, index finger raised, and tucking the other behind her back, just below her wings, her stance now mimicking that of a commander giving her troops a pep-talk. "I don't think any of you are happy. You want to be, want very badly to be, but you aren't. Not even those of you who have been the loudest advocates of this peaceful time." With that, Zeta used her raised index finger to point at Ralph, raising an eyebrow challengingly, daring him to disagree with her.

"Now you wait just a minute!" Ralph shouted, standing so abruptly that his chair was knocked back. "I am happy! I have everything I ever wanted a--!" Before Ralph could even finish his rant, two words from Zeta's mouth made him freeze.

"Mayor Gene." She cut in, watching as Ralph seemed to struggle to get his mental footing. "He still treats you like shit, doesn't he?"

Confusion seeming to calm his anger for the moment, Ralph eyed the self-assured woman before him. "How did you know?"

"I've seen it before." Zeta replied, hands moving to her hips. "No matter how hard a villain tries to fit in, there's always one asshole who just won't let go of the shadows cast by labels, who refuses to see the future." She suddenly gave a mighty flap of her wings and lifted into the air. "But you guys could be the future." She said, turning slowly in the air to address the whole room. "You're all, each and every one of you, more powerful than you realize and you're squandering that power by sitting in a room and sharing your feelings."

"Even if we were interested in all of this, you seem to be forgetting that the good guys always win." Saitine piped up, getting a few sounds of approval from around the room. "It's part of the program."

Suddenly breaking out into a mad grin, Zeta opened her arms wide as if to encapsulate the whole room. "That's the beauty of all this "code" and "program" stuff. All of your heroes are specifically tailored to defeat you, but not the villain next to you." She suddenly spun and pointed at Bowser. "For instance, do you think that Bowser here could be defeated by Felix, from Ralph's game." There was hesitation and then a general consensus of "no" was reached. "Precisely!" Zeta exclaimed excitedly, throwing her hands in the air and then spinning again to point at Dr. Robotnik. "Do you think anyone from Mortal Kombat could defeat you?"

"Of course not!" Robotnik exclaimed, his pride easily winning out over his apprehension. "My genius intellect and machines would keep me well out of harms way." Once more the room slowly conceded that they agreed.

"See?" Zeta said, watching as the expressions of many of the avatars changed from uncertainty to a look of realization. "Villains and heroes are designed side-by-side to fight eachother, but if a villain strays, the hero is unequipped. Why do you think Calhoun had to go to Sugar Rush to fix everything when the cybugs got loose? Because she was equipped to deal with the cybugs! The only reason Ralph managed to defeat them in the end was because he took the end-game plan from Hero's Duty and managed to create a beacon in Sugar Rush. If he hadn't, those cybugs would've won." She landed, grin still quite mad. "All you have to do is switch games with a neighbor and then attack! You'd be able to finally get out of the heroes' shadows and be the great villains you were all meant to be!" Zeta felt the room swell and paused only for a moment as some of the more bold villains cheered. "You'd finally be able to give them a taste of what it's been like for all of you all these years! And it would be so easy! By tomorrow, you would already be living in a completely different, a new, a better arcade!" This time the whole room except for Ralph and Clyde cheered.

Turning to Ralph, Zeta allowed her grin to die down into a less-mad smile. "No more Gene. He isn't even an important part of your game." Next she turned to Clyde. "No more having to host these meetings. If you really care about your fellow villains, what I'm suggesting is the best course." Zeta flew up and addressed the whole room once more. "I guarantee that this plan will succeed! I guarantee that by tomorrow, you will all be living in an arcade where villains are no longer treated like trash! Now, who's with me!?" The room erupted into cheers, even from Ralph and the normally monotone Clyde. "Then let's go fuck some shit up!" Zeta yelled and led the charge out into the arcade.

Even with their small group, the plan to overthrow the heroes of the arcade spread like wildfire thanks in part to Zeta empowering every villain in earshot with her words and the rest thanks to the delightful effects of the mob mentality. People were stupid when you got them all together and they were easily controlled, the same could be said for avatars. The surge protectors tried to stop the villains from game jumping but there were too many all at once and it was proving to be an impossible task. Zeta would not be calmed and neither would the villains who had, deep down in their hearts, wanted this for so long. Nothing could stop them and not even the neutral games were spared.


	2. Chapter 2

Not long after Zeta sent the first two texts, the track from The Glory of Death lit up again. This time a young man and woman were riding side-by-side down the track. As they exited the car and passed over the threshold, the loud buzz-beep sounded and stopped both twins in their tracks. Monique knew what was coming and was prepared, Matthew on the other hand, never took part in watching Disney movies with the others and so had no idea.

Right before their eyes appeared a surge protector, clipboard in hand, and a dull expression on his face. "You're from 'The Glory of Death', correct?" He questioned, daring to repeat history by glancing up at the two newcomers.

Raising a perfectly groomed eyebrow, Matthew answered before Monique could stop him. "Obviously."

Realizing right away that this interaction wasn't going to be any more pleasant than the one before it, the surge protector sighed. "I'm a surge protector and I keep track of all traffic between games. I'm going to need to ask you two a few questions before I can let you move on."

"Okie dokie." Monique cut in, stopping Matthew from replying. If he got them into trouble with his temper, Zeta would never trust her to go on a mission again so she needed to take the lead as much as possible.

"Names?".

"Monique and Matthew Rose." Monique replied cheerfully, hoping to win the surge protector over with her infectious happiness.

"Prince Matthew and Princess Monique." Matthew corrected, unable to keep himself from smirking. "Can't have them thinking we're part of the common rabble, Mon."

"Right." The surge protector muttered, bracing himself for the next question, which he predicted was going to be a pain. "Affiliation?"

At that, Matthew actually started laughing. Giggling nervously, Monique took over once more. "Villain and anti-hero." She said, smiling shyly and motioning with her thumb to Matthew and herself respectively for each affiliation title.

Not even bothering with correcting Monique's faux pas after the reaction he'd gotten from Zeta, the surge protector just marked down her answer and moved on. "By entering Game Central Station you hereby agree to submit to random security checks and agree to not cause trouble in any game you may enter. Understand?" He drawled, looking at Monique and the now calm Matthew.

"Yep."

The answer only cam from Monique, but the surge protector decided that was good enough. He spoke his parting "you may proceed" and zapped away.

Running a hand through his fiery red hair, Matthew looked down at his slightly shorter twin. "That sucked."

"It wasn't that bad." Monique argued, giving Matthew a cute smile that she knew he wouldn't be able to resist.

Indeed unable to resist his twin's cuteness, Matthew smiled despite himself and began to walk towards their destination. "You're too forgiving of annoying things." He accused, red two-pronged tail flicking lightly behind him with every step he took.

"Or you're too impatient." Monique countered, falling into step beside her brother and watching as the portal to Sugar Rush came into view. Once the platform also came into view, she ran over and got into a car on the empty train. "I can't wait to see if this game tastes as good as it looks!" She squee'd, practically bouncing in her seat.

"That's gross, Mon." Matthew sighed, sitting beside his over-enthusiastic twin and allowing a smile to play his lips when she hugged his arm tightly.

The train ride was fast and soon Matthew and Monique found themselves traversing the saccharine world of Sugar Rush. Matthew was calmly walking down the path his phone laid out for him, his other hand in his pocket and an apathetic expression on his face. Monique, meanwhile, was zipping all around and tasting just about everything, finding that the world really was flavored like the foods it was based on. Just as Zeta had instructed, they were headed for Diet Cola Mountain and the map she had given Matthew led them past several of the tracks that wound all through Sugar Rush. While Matthew focused on the path, Monique was busy taking pictures of the sugary landscape while also sampling anything she hadn't yet.

Crouching down to get a picture of a Twizzler caterpillar crawling across a mint leaf, Monique heard the sound of engines in the distance. When she looked up, three karts were whizzing past and heading straight towards Matthew. He had his eyes firmly focused on his phone and didn't seem to notice the karts as he stepped out onto the track. "Matt, look out!" Monique called, quickly taking to the air on her hot pink fairy wings and rushing towards her brother.

Without looking up, and before the first kart could screech to a stop, Matthew stuck his hand out and when it and the kart collided, the kart went flying over his head and landed upside-down on the track. The other two racers had the time to stop as they'd been further back and they immediately leapt out of their own karts to check on their downed comrade. Matthew continued on as though nothing had happened but Monique dared to look over at the toppled kart.

The kart itself was totaled but worse off was the driver. There was thick red blood that looked like cherry syrup oozing from under the kart and the blonde avatar who had been driving was very obviously dead. The other two avatars were crying and panicking and didn't even seem to notice as Monique hurried past to catch up with Matthew. "That didn't seem necessary." She said quietly, remaining aloft and fluttering beside him.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Matthew put his unmarred hand back in his pocket. "Mother won't be upset so what should I care?" He asked coldly, eyes still locked on his phone. "So long as we complete our mission, I doubt she cares what happens to this game."

"I still don't think that was necessary." Monique insisted, pouting a bit. "Taffyta was their friend."

"They'll probably all be dead soon anyway, Mon, you know how mother is when she wants something."

Sighing in resignation, Monique flew high enough up into the sky so that she could see well beyond the path they were currently on. "What are you doing up there?" Matthew asked, finally stopping to look up at his twin.

"I'm making sure there won't be anymore casualties."

Rolling his eyes, Matthew resumed walking. "You're such a bleeding heart, Mon. How did you end up so sweet?"

Flying down and landing beside her twin, Monique shrugged lightly. "I guess because you're so rotten."

Nodding in agreement, Matthew glanced up as the road changed from the hardened sugar of the tracks to the crunch of lollipop grass into chocolate powder dirt. "Looks like we're getting close." He said, very pointedly avoiding looking at his once-shiny black leather boots as they got chocolate dirt on them.

"Getting close to where?" A slightly scratchy voice asked from behind the Rose twins.

Turning around in unison, Matthew and Monique saw that standing just a bit behind them with her hands in her jacket pockets was the ruler of Sugar Rush, Vanellope Von Schweetz. "None of your business." Matthew said, eyes narrowing. As a heathen, his senses where very good and even over the disgusting sugary smell of the world, he should've been able to smell Vanellope coming but he hadn't; her scent had appeared as suddenly as her voice had.

"Oh, but I think it is my business." Vanellope countered, rocking back on her heels rather casually. "Since you guys are in my game and all."

Stepping in front of her brother before he could respond, Monique smiled kindly at the shorter avatar. "I'm sorry about my brother, he's always like that. We're headed to Diet Cola Mountain."

"Oh yeah? Why?"

"I wanted to see the place where the epic final showdown between Wreck-It Ralph and King Candybug took place." Monique lied easily, clasping her hands behind her back and swaying her hips side-to-side a bit in a way she hoped appeared shy. "I've always wanted to see it."

"Uh-huh." Vanellope replied, taking her hands from her pockets to place them on her hips. "How come your brother tried to kill someone?"

"Tried? You mean she didn't die?" Matthew cut in, moving Monique aside.

"No, she did. But she respawned."

"Oh, thank fun." Monique breathed, putting a hand to her chest. "I was so worried."

"Not worried enough to stick around and wait for help to come." Vanellope challenged, expression far from friendly now.

Before Monique could respond, Matthew was directly in front of Vanellope and staring down dangerously at her. "Nobody talks to my sister that way." He growled, picking Vanellope up by her ponytail. Before he could do anything to her, however, she glitched out of his grip and onto a nearby jawbreaker.

"I knew it." She growled, eyes narrowing at the two intruders. "You two are trouble."

"What are you gonna do about it?" Matthew asked mockingly, two-pronged tail flicking to and fro aggressively. "There isn't anyone around to help you and you're just a little brat."

"No, I'm a racer." Vanellope retorted, suddenly in her kart and speeding off towards Diet Cola Mountain.

"If she beats us there, she might find him first!" Monique yelled, taking to the sky in her panic.

"She won't beat us there." Matthew growled, shrugging off his suit jacket and tossing it along with his phone up to Monique. "Follow the path on the screen, I'll catch the candy brat." Matthew's eyes turned from mostly to all black and he took off running after Vanellope, his powerful legs allowing him to catch up to her quickly. Once her kart was in his sights, he leapt forward and latched onto the spoiler, the sudden extra weight making the kart jerk.

Looking back, Vanellope saw Matthew's elongated claws coming at her just in time to duck. "Get off my kart!" She screeched, swerving in an attempt to shake the heathen.

Digging the claws of his left hand into the nearest piece of the kart, which happened to be the seat's headrest, Matthew managed to keep his balance perched on the spoiler. "That was a neat trick back there. Let me show you one of mine." Matthew said, his voice much lower and so gravely it was almost hard to understand. He swung again with his claws and Vanellope ducked but this time Matthew grabbed hold of her steering wheel and ripped it clean off the kart easily.

"Hey!" Vanellope cried, hitting the brakes and watching as Matthew finally lost his balance and toppled over her, landing in the dirt in front of her kart. Vanellope quickly slammed back on the gas, hoping to run Matthew over, her kart staying on track remarkably well even without a steering wheel. As she neared the downed heathen, his hand shot up and caught her kart by the front bumper.

"You ripped my shirt." Matthew growled lowly, slowly turning his head up to meet Vanellope's gaze with his cold, black eyes. Stricken by his gaze, Vanellope was unable to react in time to activate her glitch as Matthew sunk his claws into her kart's hood and began to lift her and her kart off the ground. By the time she managed to pull herself from the trance Matthew's eyes had put her in, she was freezing cold and heading for the ground at a devastating height.

Catching up to her brother while he was still in what she called "bloodlust mode", Monique found that Matthew was examining the rip in his shirt. "Did she hurt you?" She asked in concern, landing beside Matthew and nudging his hands aside so she could inspect the tear.

"No." Matthew grumbled, watching his twin. "She threw me off her car."

Sighing, Monique hugged Matthew tightly. "You worried me." She huffed, voice pouty.

"You worry too much." Matthew replied, wrapping an arm around Monique and slowly coming out of his rage, his claws shrinking back down and his eyes regaining what little color they usually had. "Like some little brat could actually hurt me." Suddenly catching Vanellope's scent, Matthew moved Monique behind him just in time to get hit in the chest by the prongs of a taser gun. He convulsed as the current ran through him and dropped to one knee when it ended, panting softly.

Covering her mouth with both hands from shock, Monique looked up to see Vanellope was holding the other end of the taser gun, looking smug and triumphant. "You tased my brother." Monique said quietly, almost too quietly for Vanellope to catch it. "You BITCH!" She screamed, voice shrill with anger as she shot into the air and then darted at Vanellope.

Moving quickly, Vanellope took out the gun she'd "borrowed" from a doughnut police officer and fired it at Monique, the sharp piece of candy corn that acted as a bullet heading right for Monique's head. Before she could be hit, Monique put up a shield of swirling rainbow colors only long enough to deflect the bullet, sending it instead into Vanellope's shoulder. The shorter avatar screamed in pain and before she could fire again, Monique had reached her and backhanded her hard. Vanellope flew off the jawbreaker she had been standing on, landing in the dirt in a heap. As she sat up, her face dirty from the mix of chocolate powder and tears, she reached for her gun but found that it was no longer beside her.

"Looking for this?" Matthew asked, standing above her with the gun leveled at her head, his eyes black once more. Without waiting for a response, or giving Vanellope a chance to respond, he fired, watching as her brain scattered all over the ground, the pieces looking like chunks of pink gummy candy. Wrinkling his nose, Matthew kept firing until the gun was out of ammo. "Disgusting." He spat, tossing the gun aside and walking up to Monique. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Monique said softly, giving all of her attention to Matthew so her eyes wouldn't accidentally stray to Vanellope's corpse. "We should go before she respawns."

"Right." Matthew agreed, turning and doing his best to ignore the squelch as he stepped on one of Vanellope's eyes and the juices shot up his boot. "Are you okay to fly?" He managed to get out between clenched teeth.

"Yeah." Monique said again, lifting into the air and flying after Matthew as he started to run. She hated herself for losing her temper like she had but Vanellope had hurt Matthew. She knew that no other reaction would've been appropriate but she reminded herself too much of Zeta and Matthew when she got angry. The thought that she was anything like either of them, as much as she loved them both, especially Matthew, made her extremely upset.

Able to sense his twin's emotional distress but unsure how to console her, Matthew just kept running until they had arrived at their destination. He hated when Monique got upset, especially over things as silly as bloodshed, but he knew she was sensitive and so thought it best to stay quiet and let his twin work through her emotions on her own. If she needed him, she would say so, but until then, they had a mission to complete. Next to making sure Monique never got hurt, Matthew's number one priority was always to please his mother. He hated her for the sway she held over him due to how much he loved her; it often made their relationship complicated.

Both lost in their own minds, the Rose twins passed through the glitched wall between the two lollipops that created an arch and began to search the large cavern within Diet Cola Mountain. What used to function as Vanellope's old home was no longer there as it had disappeared when the game had reset but as the unfinished bonus level was part of the games original code, it remained. Matthew had just begun to search around the peanut brittle stalagmites when Monique's voice rang out.

"Found it!" She called, flying out over the lake of broiling Cola and gently taking a helmet from midair. Monique flew back over to Matthew and they shared a grin, both of their troubles forgotten in the wake of their success. The helmet was white with two purple lines going down the middle and a golden crown positioned crookedly to one side, kept in place by some unseen force. "This has to be it. It blends all three versions of him."

"If you say so." Matthew replied, hugging Monique with one arm. "If you're sure that's what we came for, let's get the fuck out of here."

Giving a nod, Monique opened the drawstring bag she'd brought and carefully slid the helmet into it, closing the bag and maneuvering it back around her wings expertly. "Let's." As they left the cavern, Matthew and Monique saw smoke on the horizon in the direction of the main entrance to Sugar Rush. "Uh-oh." Monique muttered, looking at Matthew worriedly.

"It's probably the rebellion." He informed her, smirking a bit. Zeta's ability to control people of lesser intellect never ceased to impress him. "We'll be able to avoid the other villains so long as you stay close to me."

Clinging to one of Matthew's arms, Monique gave a nod. "Okay, lead the way."

Fishing his phone out of Monique's bag, Matthew took them back through the sugary game, avoiding most of the carnage that was likely being inflicted on the game. It wasn't until they reached the main entrance that they even saw another villain. It was Robotnik; he was controlling a hoard of robots remotely from one of his airships and laughing madly from his perch as he watched the destruction they caused unfold on a few monitors. Matthew and Monique slipped past him unnoticed and made their way back to The Glory of Death.


	3. Chapter 3

In the midst of the chaos being created by Zeta's villain rebellion, no one noticed the track from The Glory of Death lighting up again. This time two men, each in separate cars, were riding down the track. Xander and Jason exited their individual cars and as they passed over the threshold, a very glitchy and frazzled surge protector appeared. He tried to tell them to return to their game, but they each ignored him and then parted ways, easily making their ways through the chaos and to their destinations. Xander was headed to Fix-It Felix Jr. and Jason was headed for Hero's Duty. Zeta needed the three big games of the inner arcade to suffer the hardest for her plan to succeed and she trusted them with the task of taking out one each while her children collected her prize from the third. For once, she was just the distraction.

Upon arrival at Fix-It Felix Jr., Xander entered the main apartment building of the game. As he looked around the small space of the lobby, Xander saw his very first Nicelander; Mayor Gene. Gene was looking over some papers and not really paying attention to his surroundings and therefor had yet to see the, comparatively, massive man standing in front of the exit. He seemed completely oblivious to the rebellion going on outside his game. Tilting his head, Xander crouched down and held his arm out in front of him, index finger raised. As Gene came closer, his forehead was poked by Xander's outstretched finger and the smaller avatar stopped immediately, moving his papers down in order to look up. "Hey." Xander greeted, looking down at Gene, for even when crouching, he was still much taller than the cubish avatar. "Where's Felix?"

Smacking Xander's hand away, Gene glared at the taller avatar. "Who are you and why do you want to know?" He asked hostilely, annoyed at having his busy schedule interrupted.

Put off by Gene's attitude, though he'd been expecting as much, Xander rose to his full height. "My name is Xander and the why would make your ears bleed."

Confused and mildly disturbed by Xander's response, Gene took a step back. "In that case, I don't think I'll be telling you where Felix is."

Eyeing the man for a moment, Xander noticed some of the paper's he was holding and his expression turned into a predatory grin. "You just told me what I really needed to know, Mayor. Felix isn't in the building." He concluded confidently, grin widening as his whole body began to shimmer with black and purple magic and change. Right before the petrified Gene's eyes, Xander grew even larger, turning into a monstrous creature of pure muscle with claws longer than a Nicelander.

Only managing to turn and get out half a scream, Gene was tackled by Xander, the force sending them flying down the hall and crashing right through the door, as well as a good portion of the wall around the door, of another Nicelander's home. Xander used his huge claws to easily tear Gene to pieces and then turned his attention to the Nicelander whose home he'd just crashed into. She managed a whole scream before she was left disemboweled on the floor as well.

Hearing the ruckus, other Nicelanders began to leave their apartments, coming to see what all the fuss was about. Xander was in full beast mode now and he proceeded to tear to pieces every Nicelander he saw, quickly clearing out the first floor and starting to work his way up. He allowed some of the Nicelanders to scream which drew out the others until not a single avatar was left in the building. Shimmering and shifting until he looked humanish again, Xander made his way to the one door no one had come out of and looked around to see that, indeed, Felix wasn't there. Pleased by his good fortune, Xander hid the bodies in an apartment and summoned fresh carpeting and a very convincing wall-and-door colored curtain to hide all the blood and debris. After he got everything back to looking untouched, he went back to Felix's room and made himself comfortable, deciding to wait for the handy man to arrive.

Having just finished a maintenance run for the buildings behind the brick dump, Felix was on his way to the apartment he lived in. When he arrived, he was surprised at how quiet the building was but didn't actually know the time so he supposed that everyone could just be resting up before the next day of gaming began. Felix entered his room and bumped the door closed with his butt, reaching back to where he knew the lock was. The Nicelanders had a fairly poor sense of personal space and privacy. He didn't used to mind, but he'd had Calhoun over more than once and there was nothing that could kill the mood faster than Mary barging in with a pie during an intimate moment. Even though he was alone that night, he had grown to like the sense of comfort and control locking his door gave him. However, instead of coming into contact with the cold steel he was so familiar with, his hand met something warmer.

Turning, Felix looked at his door in confusion only to see a much taller man standing in front of it and smirking down at him. Eyes widening, Felix jumped back a considerable distance, landing in the middle of the living room near his medal wall. "Oh my land!" He cried, clutching his chest. "You scared the dickens out of me!"

Smirk growing immediately into a full-on smile, Xander tilted his head slightly. "Did you just swear?"

Face flushing in embarrassment, Felix looked down at his shoes. "Yes, I did. Pardon my language, but you really did give me a fright." He looked back up and then the oddness of having someone he'd never met before in his room dawned on him. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually, yes." Xander said, discreetly locking the door before moving closer to the small handy man.

Starting to feel uncomfortable under Xander's odd gaze, Felix smiled awkwardly. "What would that be?" He prompted, fighting the urge to back away as Xander slowly advanced on him.

Body starting to shimmer again, Xander shifted until he was only a few inches taller than the handy man, his appearance shifting with his height so that he looked like he actually belonged in the game he was currently in. "You can start by bracing yourself." He replied, voice low and eyes bright.

Before Felix could even register what Xander had said enough to be confused, the darker avatar had tackled him to the floor and pinned his arms above his head. Felix opened his mouth to protest but the words got choked up in his throat as he met Xander's gaze. His eyes were practically glowing. With what, Felix didn't know, but it made him very uncomfortable.

As Xander eyed his latest victim, he ran through the mental checklist he used when trying to decide whether or not someone would make an entertaining plaything. He usually resisted taking anyone from Zeta's themed conquests but as he ran through his checklist, he knew he had to keep Felix. Adorable accent? Check. Attractively petite figure? Check. A normal aversion to pain? He hadn't exactly tested that yet, but there was no time like the present. Shifting Felix's wrists in his grip so that he was holding him past his gloves, Xander dug his sharp nails into the handyman's arm, watching as he winced. Check.

Allowing a devilish grin to spread across his face, Xander decided to break the silence between them. "I'm keeping you." He said firmly, pleased at the confused look Felix gave him.

"Keeping me?" He repeated, unsure if he'd heard correctly.

"Yes. I'm going to take you to my world where I'll physically and mentally torture you until I allow you to die." Xander replied casually, watching Felix's eyes widen in fear.

Felix, on the other hand, witnessed something he'd only seen once before. A glint in Xander's eyes of something he now understood was evil. The only other time he'd seen that look in someone's eyes was when Turbo had been caught trying to kill Vanellope during the race that was supposed to fix her game. Apparently a sadistic lust for pain and death caused a person's eyes to look a certain way. Crazed and terrifying but still somehow cold. The look froze Felix in place and made his blood feel like ice. It lasted only seconds but it felt like hours to the frozen handy man. When it was finally over, Felix let out the loudest scream he could muster, calling for help from anyone who could hear him. The cold feeling increased when the only sound that greeted Felix's cry back was Xander's soft, malicious chuckle.

"Your friends can't help you." Xander said quietly, watching the panic and confusion build in Felix's eyes.

"C-can't?" Felix practically squeaked out. "What do you mean?"

"They're dead." Xander replied bluntly, tilting his head slightly. "Would you like to see?" Before Felix could reply, Xander's magic flared and all around them suddenly came raining down the bodies of the dead Nicelanders. They weren't the real Nicelanders, merely dummies, the real Nicelanders had already respawned and were trying to get out of the room Xander had thrown them into. Felix was unaware of that, however, and Xander watched Felix's eyes as the bodies rained down, watching the shock and disgust, the rage and disbelief. He watched those blue eyes almost glow with fury and then cloud with tears in the same instant. It was obvious Felix was falling apart inside and Xander was having so much fun watching his mind come crashing down around him more and more with every new body. As the last body fell, so too did Felix's mind.

Letting out a furious, anguish-filled wail, Felix began to thrash madly against Xander. "No! NO! They're not dead! They'll respawn! They always respawn!" He screamed, panting and crying, eyes closed tightly as there was now nowhere he could look without seeing the lifeless body of one of his friends or the madman above him.

Suddenly catching Felix's chin and throat in his pointed blue nails, Xander held the broken avatar's head still. He leaned down until his mouth was right beside Felix's ear and began to whisper lowly, his voice a cruel mix of seductive and mocking. "Or will they? You've seen what I can do, do you really believe it beyond my powers to delete the code that allows someone to respawn?" The questions were rhetorical as Xander knew what Felix thought the answers were already. In truth, Xander didn't have the power to delete code, only Zeta did, but as Felix had watched him "code-shift", something only Turbo, a code tamperer, could do, he was convinced Xander could do the same.

Luckily Xander already knew all of that for himself since Felix couldn't have answered even if he'd wanted to. The blank look in his eyes and the way his breathing had calmed told Xander that Felix, unable to handle everything around him, had retreated into his mind. A few rounds of psychological torture would bring him back out, but for now, he was docile and quite broken. Xander didn't mind though, his condition would make him easier to transport.

Changing back into his normal form, Xander picked Felix up with one arm and leapt out the window with him. Landing in the grass outside the apartment, Xander released the Nicelanders from the room they'd been trapped in by desummoning the lock he'd conjured up to put on the door. He began walking towards the tracks that led to GCS when he spotted the ghosts from Pac-Man floating towards the apartment. "All yours, ghouls." He said, motioning to the apartment with his free hand and watching the ghosts float past him. Xander wasn't sure what damage the ghosts could actually do to the Nicelanders or any of the other inhabitants of the game, but he didn't care enough to stick around and find out. The sooner he met up with the rest of the clan, the sooner he'd be home breaking his new toy.

Easily slipping past all the mayhem in GCS, Jason made his way to Hero's Duty. He'd always been very good at blending into crowds and going unnoticed. Apparently his talent was odd considering he had what Zeta called "remarkable features". From what he'd gathered, that meant he'd be easy to pick out of a line-up. Jason had never been caught doing any of the stalking he'd done throughout his life so he wouldn't know about being in a line-up, but he took Zeta's word for it. He'd take her word about anything.

Looking around the dark game, Jason decided he didn't like it. Too metal. He preferred trees to buildings any day. Luckily for him, Zeta had told him he could do what he liked to the game, so he decided he would destroy it. Getting down on all fours, Jason closed his eyes and relaxed. His body began to expand and before long, he was his true self: a wolf the size of a pick-up truck. He rarely got to transform so slowly when out with Zeta unless he did it before leaving the house so the gentle ease into his normal skin despite all the chaos that was going on just outside the game felt nice.

Remembering something he'd seen from the movie Zeta had made him pay attention to about the world they were in, Jason walked up to a green egg and nudged it. The nudge was all it needed and it began to glow, it's shell quickly disappearing to reveal a small bug, barely the size of one of his toe-pads. He let out a chuffing sound at the patheticness of the creature who'd almost destroyed the world Zeta was currently destroying far more easily and turned, swiping his tail over as many eggs as it could reach. They all began to glow and hatch and then, sensing an enemy nearby, they began to grow.

Feeling the adrenaline start to pump through his veins, Jason lowered his ears and his tail began to swish lightly. Before long, there was an entire swarm facing Jason. Cybugs had tapped eggs as they grew and those eggs had hatched, repeating the cycle until the entire bridge from the entrance to the game to the tower was covered in cybugs. Jason watched them all with his golden eyes and they watched him with their multi-lensed green eyes. Then he suddenly crouched low and half the cybugs took to the sky while the other half charged.

Sprinting forward, Jason burst through the hoard that had charged him and caught a cybug between his teeth. He quickly bit down, squishing the bug and finding that they had an unpleasant, but not unbearable, taste. The taste was sort of like the metallic flavor one got from licking a nine-volt battery that still has a bit of juice in it mixed with a slightly sour aftertaste. He spit the goo that the bug had turned into out and moved on, stomping smaller cybugs with his paws and popping the bigger ones in his jaws. Now that he'd really gotten the swarm worked up, he was having loads of fun.

Jumping over, ducking under, and dodging around cybugs all in his attempts to stop what he'd started, Jason was racking up quite the high score. Or at least he figured that's what the counter that had appeared floating near the sky when he'd started the swarm was keeping track of. It took Jason about thirty minutes to thin out the swarm enough to start feeling bored with what remained. Just before he could head to the tower to get the swarm started again, a voice rang out that made Jason's ears prick.

"What in the name of fun!?"

Turning with a still wriggling cybug in his mouth, Jason saw that standing in the entrance to Hero's Duty was a blonde woman in black armor. He tilted his head slightly to one side, the struggling cybug quickly turning to a pile of green goo as he bit down into it. Jason opened his mouth a bit, allowing the goo to drip out as he had for all the cybug remains before it, and then righted his head, eyes narrowing at his new chew toy.

"Who the heck are you!?" Calhoun demanded, plasma rifle loaded and ready to fire, aimed squarely at the intruder's head.

Unable to answer even if he'd wanted to, which he didn't, Jason crouched low before turning sharply and taking off towards the tower where he knew there would be the means to destroy the game. As he suspected she would, Calhoun fired at Jason's sudden movement of lowering himself and continued to shoot as he ran, more at the cybugs than him as she pursued him but he doubted she'd regret any stray blasts hitting him. They didn't though, Jason's razor sharp reflexes telling him exactly when to jump or slide to avoid being shot. His body moved on instinct alone as his mind focused on reaching the top floor of the tower where the most eggs were.

Making sure to disturb as many eggs as possible on the way up, Jason could hear Calhoun swearing and shooting like there was no tomorrow. It was appropriate, he supposed, since there likely wouldn't be a tomorrow if even a single cybug escaped the game. Even as fast as he was, he could always hear Calhoun not far behind him, shooting and running, keeping up easily despite what looked like rather heavy armor. Having been with Zeta for as long as he had, Jason could respect a strong woman, so he decided that once he reached the top floor, he'd fight Calhoun properly.

The top floor came quickly, Jason bursting through first, followed quickly by Calhoun and then a huge swarm of cybugs that began to disturb the even larger stock of eggs in the room. Turning to face Calhoun and panting softly, Jason saw that the armored woman was still valiantly trying to shoot as many cybugs as she could. Chuffing lightly, Jason leapt over Calhoun's head, tackling a large cybug that was speeding towards the soldier.

Surprised by what looked like Jason looking out for her, Calhoun tried once more to communicate with the large wolf. "Do you have any idea what you've done?! This swarm is gonna be impossible to neutralize!"

Snorting, Jason continued to take down cybugs, his interest sparked once more by the massive odds against him and held by the thought of fighting the armor-clad woman once the swarm was dealt with. Realizing there was no point and unable to spare another moment glaring at Jason, Calhoun continued to shoot. Both warriors were caught up in the moment and soon were back-to-back, dealing with the swarm more efficiently than even Calhoun's whole platoon would've been able to. Without a player to worry about, Calhoun was in the zone and unlike her men, Jason seemed to know exactly when to move if she swung her gun in his direction. It was like they were connected and if he wouldn't have been the one who'd started the swarm in the first place, Calhoun might've found herself respecting Jason's abilities.

In record time, both by the game's standards and by what had been set by her team during drills, Calhoun and Jason dealt with every single cybug in the swarm. Not a single egg nor bug was left and the numbers in the sky flashed as the maximum score for the game was reached. If either of them went for the medal, the game would reset as it was supposed to, taking the player who didn't actually exist to the high score screen and giving Calhoun time to head back to the start position. Both panting, Calhoun and Jason exchanged looks, pausing in a moment of silent, mutual admiration before, in unison, Calhoun's gun was leveled at him once more and Jason was crouching low.

Looking at her now, Jason knew Calhoun could never beat him without her gun. She was strong, sure, but there was no way she could go head-to-head with him. Calhoun didn't seem worried about their fight coming to that, she seemed quite sure that she could land a fatal shot on Jason. Both opponents sure of their victory, Calhoun fired and Jason jumped. Within seconds, but not before a few more shots could be fired off, red blood splattered the window of the building, mixing with the green goo of hundreds of cybugs as it ran down.


	4. Finale

Standing up, Jason shook off his fur and licked his lips. That had been disappointing. He looked down at Calhoun's corpse, split in half at the middle and turned to a control panel on the far wall. Her armor hadn't even been as thick as Jason had anticipated. Jumping up, Jason came down hard on the buttons and switches before him and several alarms started sounding at once. Turning once more, Jason sprinted for the exit of the room and ran as fast as he could out of the building. Even as he ran, the building around him was exploding and as he made it out onto the bridge, it had already started to collapse.

Not sparing a backwards glance, Jason kept running. He was starting to feel the burn from all the work he'd already done but that only spurred him on and he managed to make it out of Hero's Duty and back into GCS with only minor burns and scratches. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Jason began to make his way back to The Glory of Death, excited to see Zeta's reaction to the destruction he'd caused.

Looking out over Game Central Station, Zeta felt a swell of pride. It was absolute pandemonium; heroes and villains clashing beautifully in duels that the villains were consistently winning. Her theory about heroes being unequipped for villains that weren't a part of their original programming was correct and she was reaping what she'd sown as she watched heroes fall left and right. Zeta let out a content sigh and finally moved from her perch high above the carnage and began to make her way to her own game. She'd spotted everyone in her clan leaving the games they'd been assigned to and had seen the large bulge on Monique's back signifying that her and Matthew's quest had been successful.

The villains would take over the arcade and Zeta would either step in to give someone she liked power over the others or would let them fight, she hadn't decided yet. If she gave anyone the power, it would most likely be Ralph. She felt he'd be a good leader once all the chaos died down. Then again, some of the games might not be able to get themselves together before the arcade opened and they would very likely be unplugged. Too bad, so sad.

Chuckling to herself, Zeta flew down the tunnel to The Glory of Death, casually blowing it up as she went. Her game had served it's purpose and now she didn't need it. In the morning she'd be long gone and her game would be long dead. The only arcade version of The Glory of Death would leave their world when she did. Flying into the moonlit clearing in the forest of her game she had designated as the meet-up spot for when the night was over, Zeta landed and looked around at her family. "That went well." She smiled contently and her group smiled back.

Walking up to his queen, Jason gave Zeta a long kiss that Zeta happily returned and then wrapped his arms around her from behind, holding her close. Zeta held his arms and looked at her children expectantly.

Stepping forward, Monique presented the helmet she'd taken from Sugar Rush. "It was in Diet Cola Mountain, just like you said." She informed, smiling proudly.

"Perfect." Zeta breathed, holding her arms out and taking the helmet from Monique when she came closer. "How did the mission go?"

"We had a run-in with a glitchy brat, but other than that, it went smooth." Matthew replied, standing beside his sister and wrapping an arm around her waist. "Mon was the one who found the helmet."

"Yeah, but Matt dealt with Vanellope." Monique added, leaning against her brother.

Smiling, Zeta gave an approving nod. "I'm proud of both of you."

Both overcome with joy but trying to appear mature by not showing it too much, the Rose twins backed away and Xander stepped forward.

"I see you found him." Zeta said, smiling at her twin. "You're keeping him then?"

"Yep." Xander replied contently, still holding a comatose Felix in one arm. "Fix-It Felix Jr. won't last long without a main character."

"Sure won't. I'll make sure to seal off the exit before we leave so all those classic games die with it. This arcade could use some cleansing."

"Agreed."

Looking down over her shoulder at her hubby, Zeta raised an eyebrow. "And what did you do today?" She asked coyly, having already seen the smoke coming from the exit of Hero's Duty.

Grinning, Jason's reddish wolf tail began to swish happily. "I destroyed everything." He answered calmly, his deep, normally emotionless voice, light with happiness. "I killed the blonde and blew everything up."

"Nice!" Zeta grinned, turning to give Jason a proper hug. "That's my man!"

Rolling his eyes, Matthew cleared his throat. "All that's left is Sugar Rush. I planted the explosives like you told me."

"Good." Zeta said, keeping one arm around her shorter mate as she turned to look at her son. "I don't want them detonated until we're about to leave. I don't know what the reaction might be once the base of the mountain is weak but I know we shouldn't be here to find out."

"Are the explosives really going to do that much damage? It was a small package."

"A small package of explosives made from my magic." Zeta clarified, watching Matthew's eyes widen in horror and then narrow as he smirked.

"Damn. You're gonna kill everyone." He breathed, impressed by his mother's evil.

"Not everyone." Zeta replied flippantly, smirking darkly. "Just enough of them." Her eyes wandered from Matthew to Monique and her smirk died down when she saw the sad look on her daughter's face. "I know the killing part of all this bugs you, but it's necessary." Zeta said softly, breaking away from Jason to hug Monique.

Hugging Zeta back, Monique sighed. "I know. It just makes me sad."

Pursing her lips, Zeta pondered for a moment before her eyes widened. "What if I let you save someone?"

Looking up at her mother, Monique looked intrigued. "Anyone I want?"

"Anyone but Vanellope."

Releasing Zeta, Monique began to hop up and down. "Sour Bill!" She squee'd excitedly, stopping her hopping to smile brightly at Zeta.

Surprised by her daughter's request, Zeta snapped her fingers and Sour Bill appeared before them. "There you go." She said bemusedly, forgetting her confusion when Monique hugged her again.

"Thanks, mommy!" She chirped happily, releasing Zeta again to hug Sour Bill. "You're so cute!"

As the small green candy avatar was crushed in Monique's breasts, Zeta almost felt bad for him. Turning away, Zeta took the helmet from where she'd hung it in the air and set it in the grass. She then turned to face Monique and Matthew. "You guys can go. I don't think Candybug should see Bill and I'm sure you're dying for a shower." Shooting a ball of magic at the ground, a portal opened up, leading to the living room of their house.

"I really am." Matthew sighed in relief, having been trying very hard to ignore how dirty he was and, for the most part, failing.

Grabbing her brother's arm before he had a meltdown, Monique walked through the portal and it changed to Xander's "workshop". A room of tools, cages, and broken bodies under the house he'd chosen for himself. "I want you here with me when Candybug appears, but I think you should put Felix away." Zeta informed Xander, giving Jason a nod. Nodding back, Jason shifted and shook out his fur once the transformation was complete.

"Why do you need me here?" Xander asked, eyeing Zeta suspiciously as he stepped through the portal to put Felix in a cage. "I know you're capable of handling Candybug on your own."

"I just have a feeling things will go smoother with you around." Zeta responded cryptically, smiling at her brother when he stepped back through the portal. "I also want you to be in klaw form."

Raising an eyebrow, Xander began to shimmer. "Alright, but I know you're up to something." He accused, shifting into his leathery-skinned, massively-muscled klaw form.

Nodding in satisfaction, Zeta closed the portal to Xander's workshop and blasted the helmet sitting in the grass with her magic. It began to shake and then, after a large enough dose of Zeta's magic, exploded. Where the helmet once sat was a curled up King Candybug. His eyes slowly opened and he blinked several times before unfurling slowly to his full height. Standing on all four legs, he towered over Zeta by three feet, making him as tall as Xander. Surrounded by Jason, Xander, and now King Candybug, Zeta actually felt short.

"Who are all of you?" Candybug finally asked, looking around at the assemblage of creatures and Zeta, his eyes not resting for too long on any of them.

More annoyed than she would readily admit at being the shortest of the group, Zeta flapped her wings hard and brought herself up to sit on Jason's back. "My name is Zeta and this is Jason and Xander." She answered, motioning to her hubby and brother in turn.

After looking around some more, Candybug turned his gaze on Zeta. "Where am I?"

"My game for now."

"For now?"

"Yes. Soon we'll be in my world." Zeta said, feeling better now that Jason was under her and patting his head to show her appreciation.

"Your world?" Candybug questioned, craning his long neck down to look at Zeta more closely. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"Why else would I have summoned you?" Zeta replied calmly, continuing to pat Jason as he'd bristled at Candybug's proximity. "You're Turbo, the greatest racer of all time, King Candy, the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush, and King Candybug, the most powerful virus in the arcade."

Satisfied by Zeta's answer, Candybug backed off. "Why have you revived me, then?"

"To invite you into my inner circle." Zeta said simply, smiling. "I've had my eye on you for some time and now I'd like you to come back to my world with me so I can put your particular talents to good use."

"My talents, hm?" Candybug asked, eyes straying over to Xander and suddenly widening as though he was noticing the massive beast for the first time. "You said this one's name is Xander?"

"Yes." Zeta responded, ignoring the way Xander slowly turned his head to glare at her. "You like?"

"I like~" Candybug practically purred, slinking up Xander's body faster than he could protest and curling his body around his shoulders. "Is he part of the deal?"

"Maybe." Zeta replied coolly, barely able to contain her laughter at the look Xander was giving her. He was so afraid.

"A king could get used to a perch like this. What exactly did you have in mind, Zeta?" Candybug asked, tightening his curl around Xander and grinning at Zeta.

Eyes widening as part of Candybug's thorax covered his face, Xander had to struggle to keep his claws at his sides. He knew Zeta really wanted Candybug as an ally but the insect king's forwardness was disturbing Xander in a way he couldn't explain. He'd never had someone or something as large as himself be so interested in him, especially not in klaw form. It was jarring, to say the least.

Still struggling hard not to laugh, Zeta's grin widened, exposing her long canines. "Well I've never tried technological warfare before and I think you're just the man to lead such a charge. I'm sure you're faster than any hacker I could hire and on top of that, I like you."

"We've never met." Candybug countered, raising an eyebrow. "Or I've never met you, at least. How do I know I can trust you?"

"Why wouldn't you? I brought you back to life, after all." Zeta took her phone out of her pocket and turned it, handing it to Candybug. "But, if you're still unsure, I'll give you the honors of blowing up Sugar Rush." She snapped her fingers and a large monitor appeared before them, showing the explosives inside Diet Cola Mountain that Matthew had placed while searching amongst the stalagmites.

Letting out a giggle, Candybug held the small black device in his claws, looking down at the red button on the screen. "Well, Zeta, I think you and I are going to get along fabulously." He said giddily, looking at the screen and pressing the button eagerly.

The view on the screen panned out to reveal the outside of Diet Cola Mountain as the explosives blew a hole in the side and knocked loose almost all of the Mentos hanging above the Cola lake. The explosion was massive but instead of creating a beacon as it had before, it burst from the side of the mountain where the hole was. The force of the explosion coming out of the weakened side caused the entire mountain to shake and soon it crumbled, adding the last of the Mentos to the explosion and causing it become even more violent. The screen showed a view flowing with the broiling hot Cola and allowed a first-person view of all the carnage it caused.

Much of Sugar Rush would've been unaffected if the Cola wouldn't have stripped away layers of chocolate dirt in it's force and exposed underlying rock candy. The Cola slipped through cracks in the rock candy and reached underground caves that glittered with Pop Rock gems. The resulting underground explosion nearly totaled Sugar Rush, killing most of it's inhabitants and causing the entire inner arcade to shake violently.

Laughing wickedly, Candybug had wrapped himself even more tightly around Xander in his excitement and had officially cut off the klaw's air supply. "That'll teach you, you little candy brat." He hissed, tearing his gaze away from the destruction when Xander tapped his thorax. "Oops! Sorry, sugar~" Candybug giggled, loosening his hold and lightly rubbing behind one of Xander's massive pointed ears with one of his legs.

Head tilting slightly, Xander suddenly decided that having Candybug fawning on all over him might not be so bad; ear rubs felt nice. Clearing her throat, Zeta motioned to a portal she'd just opened up. "We should split. The seismic activity from Sugar Rush is likely to spread since it made the entire arcade shake." Jason and Xander, and therefor the two perched on them, didn't hesitate and went through the portal immediately, Zeta sealing off the entrance to Fix-It Felix Jr. just before the portal closed.

The three biggest games in the arcade were destroyed and without their main characters around to trigger a respawn, two of which because their world was so totaled that every time they respawned, they died again, and one of which because the main character was gone, their games would be unplugged. It would usher in a new era for the arcade, one Zeta had decided to put King Candybug in charge of. She was a fan of proxy rulers and she was sure they'd be able to figure out someone suited for the job of carrying out his will. If not, they would just create a ruler. No matter what, the arcade was soon to be under the rule of King Candybug and Candybug's loyalty now rested firmly with Zeta, so, through a cycle of death and re-birth, another conquest was complete.


End file.
